Prelude to Drama
by Sarcastic Devotee
Summary: We know the fifty-two contestants of Total Drama quite well. But what of their lives before Total Drama? How were their home lives? What spurred them to join the show in the first place? What made them who they are in the show? A collection of one-shots aimed to answer these questions, with each one-shot following a different Total Drama contestant. First prelude: Ezekiel.


**Hello, there. Welcome to Prelude to Drama. This fic is a collection of short one-shots, each touching upon the past and inner workings of each contestant before they joined the show. Each character focus chapter will have a d****ifferent feel to them. Some will be light-hearted, some will be darker. Some will be comedic in nature, some will be more dramatic in nature. But regardless, I'm hoping that each chapter will be in character and give new looks on each Total Drama contestant.**

**So. Let's get started, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, nor it's characters. They all belong to ****Fresh TV and Cake Entertainment.**

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><p><strong>Prelude to Drama: Ezekiel<strong>

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><p>"Are you sure that you weigh enough, eh?"<p>

The Latina who was competing with the homeschooled boy in Canada's national spelling bee, turned to him in shock and awe. Did he really just say that to her? Did he know what he said was probably the most rude thing you could say to anyone?

"...Excuse me?" she finally inquired once her shock had passed her.

"You seem really skinny," the toque wearing boy pointed out to her, "Are you sure you're eating enough?"

Her eyelid twitched once. Did he not know better than this? This wasn't the first unneeded question she had heard from him today. It had been hours since he spelling bee began and the socially awkward homeschooler had gotten on most of the other contestants' nerves.

Finally letting her emotions get the better of her, she unleashed into a cursing tirade in her native tongue.

"Vete a la mierda, pendejo!"

Ezekiel stood there for a moment, before widening his eyes in shock and repeating back to her, "Go to the shit, asshole? That was mean, eh! Although, it could mean kiss your a-"

With a groan of annoyance, she stormed off the stage. She didn't care if she won or lost the spelling bee anymore. She just wanted to get away from the world right then.

This wasn't the first thing Ezekiel had heard against him that day. He had been cursed at in no less than eight languages; each one being one that he happened to be multilingual in. The homeschooled teen however, shrugged them all off, and moved forward with the spelling bee.

If he got this one last question correct, he would officially be this year's winner of the national Canadian Spelling Bee Championship.

"Your word is, 'apoggiatura,'" one of the judges called out.

Ezekiel paused and breathed in for a moment. This was it. He had to spell one of the words that tripped up most spelling bee contestants. Appoggiatura was usually only used in musical terms, specifically with music majors, and was an embellishing note in a song.

One slip up and his entire studying for this rare venture outside of his house was for naught.

"Appoggiatura, eh," the boy repeated, "A-p-p-o..."

Did it have one "G" or two? Maybe, three. No, not three.

Another breath.

"g-g-i-a-t-u-r-a," he finished, "Appoggiatura."

The judge's eyes wandered from Zeke to the card to back to Zeke again. After a moment of dramatic tension, the judge finally exclaimed, "That is correct! May I announce the winner of this year's national spelling bee! Ezekiel Rimes!"

The audience exploded into applause, but none were more prouder of Ezekiel than his parents, a quaint old-fashioned farming couple who stayed rooted in the ways of old. The chairman of the national spelling committee walked onto the stage and handed the gilded trophy to the extremely happy winner.

"So, Ezekiel," the chairman asked, "is there anything you wish to say to the audience?"

Ezekiel shook his head, "Not really, eh?"

The chairman opened and closed her mouth in awe at the bluntness of the boy before adding, "...Okay, how about your fellow competitors?"

The homeschooled boy let out a low hum for a moment before a lightbulb went off in his head. He exclaimed for everyone to hear:

"I licked their butts!"

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><p>Ezekiel nursed the bruises he received from his word mix-up, as he sat in the doctor's office the next day. Not because the other spelling bee students went after him and beat him up, but rather that his parents were worried about him for another reason.<p>

"You're still very deficient in your Vitamin D," his doctor warned in a relatively quiet voice, "I would ask about your bruises, but this seems much more important. We've regulated the rest of your vitamin deficiencies, but for some reason, your Vitamin D is relatively lower than average."

Taking off his glasses, the grey-haired physician turned from Ezekiel to his parents and asked, "Has he been taking his supplements?"

"Every day!" Ezekiel answered for his parents.

The doctor turned back towards the boy for a moment before focusing his attention on the parents to get a confirmation.

"He has been, eh," his father, a burly man with a handlebar mustache explained, "I don't reckon our son would lie to you."

The physician nodded and shook his head, "No, no, no; I just wanted confirmation."

"Then what's the problem?" his mother, a portly woman with blonde hair and rosy cheeks asked, crossing her arms. She was very protective of Ezekiel. Her husband was too, but not as stifling of the boy as his wife was.

"Janet, he'll be fine," the father, named James, urged, "He's a Rimes boy."

The doctor turned back to Ezekiel and asked, "Have you been outside often?"

"I-"

Ezekiel was cut off by his father who said, with a scowl, "No. Janet won't let him do any work in the fields, eh."

"He's vitamin deficient!" Janet furrowed her eyebrows and questioned, "Do you want him to fall out and get hurt?!"

"Do you see what I put up with?!" James' face contorted in annoyance, "Neither my wife nor my boy wanna listen-"

"Because you're not treating Ezekiel right!"

"Aren't I right, doctor?!" both parents turned towards the doctor in annoyance.

The doctor didn't say a word to begin with. He rose his clipboard to cover his face, partially in defense, and returned his glasses to the bridge of his nose. Breathing in and out, he reminded them, "I'm a pediatrician. Not a marriage counselor."

Focusing his gaze on Ezekiel again, he asked their son, "Do you wish to be around more kids your age? Or do you wish to be in solidarity?"

The toque-wearing boy gazed down at the bruises on his arm. Other teenagers scared him in a way. No matter what Ezekiel said, he always just made them mad. The very few who did hang around Ezekiel were also homeschooled most of their life, but weren't as sheltered as he was. He wanted that. He wanted a chance to make friends on his own terms.

"I," he paused momentarily before regaining his confidence, "I want to be around other teens, eh! Not just the ones I see on my TV screen!"

The doctor gave a musing grunt, before turning back to his parents, "You heard the boy. I recommend something akin to a summer camp. Someplace Ezekiel can get away for a summer, get the Vitamin D he needs naturally while still taking his supplements, and make friends as he wishes. Any objections?"

"A lot of e-"

"None," Ezekiel's mom silenced her husband. After all, she knew of a place that would be good for the entire family.

She was going to sign Ezekiel up for the newest reality show on the block, Total Drama Island.

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><p>"Hey, Ma?"<p>

Several weeks had passed since Ezekiel sent his audition tape to the show and had been accepted. His mother had received an arrow to the butt for her misfortune in the audition tape, but she was _mostly _over that.

"Yes, Zeke?" she answered her son.

"Why didn't you just sign me up for a regular summer camp?"

She turned from her work in the fields and wiped some sweat from her brow. The sun was high. It had to be high noon, if she had any guess. She crossed her arms for a moment before asking, "You do know that we're poor, don't you?"

He frowned, but nodded.

"You have to win," she told her son solemnly, "Do you know how much one-hundred thousand dollars will do for us?"

That's what Ezekiel had feared. He had watched some episodes of Big Brother now and again, so he knew that only the ones with the biggest focus, personalities, and manipulative tendencies tended to be the winners. But if it meant it would make his family happy, Ezekiel was all for it.

"How, eh?"

"You'll win at any means necessary, if you can," was her advice, "Don't take losing as your last resort. If it comes down to it, you have to have the prize money. For us."

That was her sagely advice. His father's own advice rang true in his head too.

"You're a man, aren't you?" he could hear his father's voice in his head, "Assert your dominance. Protect the women on the show and show how strong you really are!"

Something didn't feel right in the pit of Ezekiel's stomach from these pieces of advice. He closed his eyes and breathed in before smiling and telling his mother:

"I'll make you proud, eh!"

If only he listened to the pit of his stomach, he never would have become the monster he would become due to Total Drama.

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><p><strong>To me, Ezekiel started off as a character who had pure intentions but was taught wrong and taught some greedy and sexist habits. Ezekiel's character in of itself is tragic, if even in a Butt Monkey type of way, so this is kinda how I wanted to style this one-shot. Pure intentions but no happy ending.<strong>

**Tell me what you thought. Liked it? Disliked it? Excited for future installments? Let me know through a review if you wish.**

**Next time: Eva.**


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